The Rogue Ninja
by ChickennBang
Summary: It has been years now, years since Sasuke has abandoned the Konoha Leaf Village. Sakura being one of the few that never gave up Sasuke has finally made an encounter with him again. But what happens now? Sasu/Saku
1. Rogue Ninja

His grip is so strong, his fingers clawing my neck. I'm losing my breath, so why? Why can't I do it? No matter how I look at him, he's not the same. He got colder from the last time I saw him. He gets colder every day he lives, his sanity leaving him so quickly; or has his sanity already left him? I can't let him get any colder, no, I won't let him get any colder. As his friend I won't let him. As someone who truly loves him, I can't. My kunai is ready in my hand and I know what I must do. But. Why am I trembling so much...? I'm such a fool. The world slowly turned dark. I'm dying and still, I don't feel any hatred toward my killer, only sorrow. Sasuke-kun. I'm sorry.

* * *

Huff. Huff. I was woken by heavy breathing to my right. I slowly open my eyes, enduring the pain the sun's rays give me. The first thing I see is the trees, their still composure disturbed by the wind. The skies bright now, a light blue color with no clouds in sight. This is the forest I was last with Sasuke. I try to turn my head to the right to see who was near me but I couldn't move my head, it still hurt from Sasuke's grip.

"Naruto." I said by instinct, it's always been Naruto who's saved me. He's saved me countless times, he's the reason why I'm still alive after my encounters with Sasuke. He must have hurt himself while protecting me. "I'm sorry ... I couldn't-", my voice went dry, "Sasuke. I had him, he was right in front of me." Tears were flowing down my eyes now, I couldn't hold my tears back. "I'm so stupid." I bit my lip, trying to stop from whimpering.

"Sakura." _This voice._ "Sasuke...kun?"


	2. Shelter

I feel tears blurring my eye sight. I've been healing Sasuke for quite a while now and although he's still breathing, his wounds are very deep. Sasuke is barely conscious and it's making me worried. What if he won't ever wake up? What if my medical experience isn't good enough to save him? I can feel my hands starting to get stiff; my strength left me, and in its place came fear. I'm starting to panic, thoughts of losing Sasuke are starting to enveloping me. No Sakura, stop. You only have one goal remember? To save Sasuke, and that has always been your goal, so don't fail now. That's right, now that I have him in my grasp, now that he has only me to rely on, I can't fail him. Not now. It's time to put your feelings aside. I stopped focusing on the distractions. I tuned out the winds making the trees leaves shuffle and the birds chirping. Focus. Focus. Focus. I can feel my strength coming back. I can see progress I'm making on mending his wound. Just keep on concentrating Sakura, your doing fine. Just keep on-

"Stop." I felt his cold hand laying on top of mine, making my heart stop. His glassy eyes were concentrated on me, they looked so weak and fragile. "Sasuke." I couldn't believe it, the tears I was holding in came rushing down. "Sakura." he said, barely able to speak. I tried to look at Sasuke to see his expression, but couldn't; I could have barely seen a thing, my eyes were filled with so much tears. "Leave me."  
"What?" Those to words made the world around me instantly disappear. Everything feel numb in my head right, I can feel it filled with nothing but pure astonishment. Many questions filled my head, but only two managed to come out. "What do you mean? Why?"  
"Hurry... Go." his glassy eyes were serious and filled with urgency. I shook my head, "No, there is no way I am leaving you Sasuke!" He squeezed my hand softly, "please", he begged. His eyes were softening and beginning to close. He was starting to lose consciousness again, he must have had used too much of his energy warning me to leave him. I couldn't simply just leave him here though, there's no way I could just go.

.~.~.

I felt my vision start to blur and my mind begin to fog. How can you fall asleep at a time like! I hastily shook my head in a desperate attempt to wake myself up. I have been oozing in and out of consciousness for what seems to be the millionth time now, and each time, waking up becomes more and more of a challenge. I decided to stepped out of my hastily built shelter to take a quick breath of fresh air, in an attempt to wake me up. How nostalgic.  
I can easily remember the last time I made a shelter for my companions. It was the chuunin exam with Naruto and Sasuke. But in the end, no matter how hard I tried, I was still the one that needed to be saved. "The damsel in distress." I muttered under my breath, laughing at how silly I sounded.

"The chuunin exam." But this time, I felt a sudden burden, "That was the beginning of all of this huh, Sasuke?" I made my way back to his exhausted body.  
"Why?" That question carried so much meaning. That question that led to so much more questions, so much confusion. The nonchalant raven haired boy who we have loved and given so much care for. What can we do to get him back to the way he used to be?

I unconsciously brought my hand to him and stroked his cheek. He looks so innocent like this. He doesn't look like a boy who has been corrupted by hatred. A boy who has felt so much pain and grief in his life.

I haven't been able to look at his face as clearly and as close as I can before. His face which bared no wrinkles, so soft like a child's. "Mn", he murmured, slowly opening his eyes. "Oh, sorry I must have woken you up." I nervously chuckled. I seem to have pinched his cheeks without knowing.

"Sakura.. I told you to leave." he said faintly.  
"How do you expect me to leave you after I've finally found you? And in that condition too."  
"It doesn't matter."  
"But Sasuke, I've-" I was cut off by a sudden explosion. I was too exhausted to notice the ninjas that were lurking near the shelter, just waiting for the right time to attack. Two on each side of me standing on tree branches and another one in front of me. There were too many of them to handle in my current state. There was also Sasuke to take care of. Damn, how did they even find me? I was deep in the forest and in a dark, secluded area. They shouldn't have had been able to find me. Unless we were tracked down from the very beginning.  
I've finally realized why Sasuke was so insistent in making me abandon him, why I even woke up with him beaten down in the first place. Sasuke knew these guys were tracking him down, and he knew that by the time I would find out about it, it was going to be to late. And he was right.

* * *

Thank you for the support! ^^ and also for the critique of my summary I've never been to good with those things!


	3. Escape

I knocked out the branches connected to the ground on the shelter, which was the base of the shelter, making it collapse camouflaging Sasuke and I for a short moment. _Quick Sakura, you have less than 5 seconds to think of a plan_. If I were to run in either directions, left or right, I still wouldn't be able to escape conflict. Who are they? Dammit what have you gotten yourself into Sasuke? Sasuke, he is my top priority, he can't fight on his own. I'll have to keep him away from the fight, and I know what I have to do.  
"Sasuke, I'll come back for you." I promised, without asking for his opinion, I swinged him three times before throwing him deep in the forest. Then I flanged myself to the man who was in front of me. I kicked hard, aiming for his face, but he barely deflected my blow. I twisted my body and kicked him again, but to his chest and luckily this kick landed on him. Thump. A log fell to the ground, he used a substitution justu.  
The forest was quiet and only nature could be heard at this moment. I searched for the other ninjas, but the two on the trees were not there anymore. A loud rustle of leaves came from my left, I hastily turned to the direction of the sound. All I saw was the man from before and his knuckles hitting the side of my face. The blow was so hard and so strong, his hand felt like a rock. I could feel blood gushing out of my cheek, but before I could panic, he was going to hit again, but this time on my stomach. I focused chakra on my right hand and punched him on his side with all my might. My punch hit him, but his punch also hit me. My stomach felt like it had just been crushed. I was too scared to look at the damage his hit brought me, so I looked up. The two other ninjas were running to me, and with all the adrenaline I had left, I ran from that battle field as hard as I could, knowing I could not fight anymore.

.~.~.

I seemed to have lost those ninjas, sometime ago. Now adding thirst to my exhaustion, I had to find water. My stomach started to hurt even more, and my cheek stopped feeling numb and all the pain came at once. I couldn't run anymore. I sat down, leaning on a tree taking a break. I looked at my stomach, there was no blood on the outside, which meant all the pain came from inside of my stomach. I quickly started a healing ritual on my stomach. This lessened the pain by a large margin, but it exhausted me even more than I was before. My vision started to blur again. My stomach hurt less now, but my cheek still stung. If I wear to heal my cheek now, I would risk exhaustion and even fainting. Ignoring my pain is the only thing I could do for the time being. The only effective thing I could do now is to find water.  
I stood up and began my search for water again, in hope that water would help wake me up. I thought of my plans and began to organize; After water comes shelter, then after that I heal my wounds, and after that I find Sasuke, who is hopefully secluded from the those ninjas. I have too many goals, I can't just rest now or pass out, and every minute I spend resting I risk Sasuke's safety. I must find a water source quickly. Use your brain Sakura, think of all the rivers and ponds you have passed by in this forest. There's a pond West of the shelter, but I am now East of it while Sasuke is at North. That pond is far too inconvenient. _Think harder, what other pond did you pass by?_  
"Dammit, how could I have forgotten about that river?"

.~.~.

The water tasted like blood and hurt my cheek because of the wound. I could feel my eyes opening, I used this refreshing feeling as an advantage and started healing my cheek. My stomach would come after because I desperately need water in my system, and the only way I could do this is to heal my cheek.  
After a few minutes of healing my cheek, I was able to comfortably drink the river water. Healing my cheek took a lot longer than expected, but that blow must have hit me hard, or maybe it had a special effect implemented with it. Did he use a jutsu before hitting me? What I knew was that if healing my cheek took way longer than I expected, then my stomach would take longer. I immediately started healing my stomach after I drank all the water I needed.  
"There you are." I heard, and suddenly felt a hit on my left arm. This hit was so strong that I flew and hit against a tree three meters away from where I was sitting. I was in shock, it all happened so fast, I couldn't even react to the punch. I knew it was the same guy that punched me from before by the way his hand felt. My arm wasn't numb like my cheek or bearable like my stomach though, this time, his blow was much stronger. My arm felt disabled from my body, I couldn't move it. I could just feel the intense pain that ran from my arm to my finger tips. I tried to hold back a scream, but the pain was too great and I began to whimper. I heard footsteps coming closer to me and a female voice talking, "That's what you get for punching him so hard. I don't blame you for whining, it must hurt like hell. After all, Shin is a very talented chakra user."  
"Stay back Luz! Let me keep hit her some more before you start the interrogation. She needs to see who she's messing with!" exclaimed a man who I guessed was Shin. I slowly opened my eyes, wanting to see their faces. "Okay, one more punch, but don't you dare knock her out Shin." With the initiative given, Shin grabbed me by the collar with one hand and raised me up to my feet. He raised his other hand and threw a punch headed directly to my face, but was intersected by a punch on the elbow of the arm that was holding me then his face. This threw Shin off a bit, and the person who saved me used this moment to turned to me and hastily picked me up and started the escaped from the two ninjas. I looked up and saw his charcoal colored eyes and hair.  
"Don't you dare throw me ever again."  
"Sasuke, who are they? Why are they following you?" I asked sounding embarrassingly weak.  
"You were being followed, not me." he explained expressionless.  
"I thought you were-"  
"We'll talk later." he said, cutting me off.  
If I really am the one being followed, what did I do? And why was Sasuke hurt earlier? Was it also because of them? If he wanted to protect me then why did he try to kill me before?


End file.
